President Obama turned his attention to energy this week, and in a rapid-fire series of announcements scrambled the prospects of the entire industry. Just days after pledging the U.S. government to a 28 percent reduction in energy consumption by 2020, Obama proposed a 2011 budget that boosted every sort of energy but the fossil kind.
On one hand, solar, biomass, new vehicle technology and the smart grid all receive a boost of hundreds of millions of dollars under Obama’s plan. On the other, the president again suggested ending $36.5 billion in subsidies for oil and gas. Lest coal states and Republicans get too exercised, he also committed $545 million to carbon-capture technology and a whopping $36 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants, a move that drew howlsin some quarters.
Combined with a generous investment in biofuels, especially advanced ones, it appears the president is preparing to to herd resurgent Republicans and reluctant Democrats toward an energy bill this year.
Meanwhile, three of the West’s largest cities looked global warming in the eye and unslung their caulking guns. Seattle passed a law that requires large buildings report their energy use, San Francisco
invested $19 million in greener interiors, and Los Angeles took a step towardcollecting rainwater from its vast acreage of roofs.
A New York Times story detailed how thoroughly China is dominating the race toward renewables while the U.S. dithers. But the rising tide can cross the Pacific, as American Superconductors demonstrated when it
won a $70 million contract to provide wind-turbine control systems to Shenyang Blower Works.
Hybrid cars ended the week with soot on their faces as an authoritative study concluded that some hybrid models don’t save much gas and are loaded with too many expensive features. On Thursday, Toyota admitted that the 2010 Prius has a
braking problem linked to regenerative braking.
European sportscar makers fell over themselves announcing (or at least suggesting) models that could hug the road and hug a tree at the same time. BMW expects a plug-in hybrid by 2013, Ferrari plans a souped-up hybrid for…someday, and Jaguar toys with a hybrid powered by a tiny gas turbine.
In other news, tigers get a reprieve, and global warming may be the reason trees in the Eastern U.S. are growing faster.
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